TUCSON

Saturday, November 9, 2013

I'm a radiology resident. Fascinating field, but not for me. I'm currently making a career switch but my program director will employ me until June 30th, 2014 so I can still take bread home to Beth and bacon home to Anna. My co-workers have been congenial with the switch. Radiology residency is probably the most academic medicine specialty. It requires hours of reading outside work and hours of teaching from our professor physicians, while we are on the job. Though they know I'm leaving, these professors/attendings have continued to educate me with no strings attached. And my peers have treated me more than fair as a turncoat.

What I want to put out there is how hard the second-year radiology resident works. In fact, from my observations in medicine and radiology I've seen no other specialty with a more difficulty call load. You have to simultaneously manage a pager, exam reads from an ever-expanding exam list, attending read-outs (when you review your findings with a more experiences physician), questions from any service who walks in the door, patient consents, exam protocol questions from techs, a full bladder, an empty stomach, and sometimes a headache. And it's this juggle for 12 straight hours (day or night). You could be sitting next to a second-year, as I am now, and have literally only seconds to say "hello," in the space of three hours.

I happened to get beyond "hello" and even asked my senior if he was going to go out tonight or hit the hay.

"I always go out," he said, before answering the phone.

I left the conversation at that...

But I'm impressed. I'm walking away from the rigors of second-year call to go back and spend more time with patients. I won't have the nefarious call duties of the second-year radiology resident. I won't have experiences to reinforce my intestinal fortitude. I won't have my radiology red badge of courage.

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

We did a trip to Newport Beach with my (Anna's) family last week and had SO much fun! Beth had a blast playing on the beach with cousins, but that wasn't all she did. We also...

got pedicures with all the girls,

(I wish I could get a good picture of her toenails. They are the cutest neon pink! And I wish I could have filmed her getting them done--she just sat there like a little princess. What a woman!)

practiced tummy time with Baby Caleb and Andrew,

rode the ferry with Pops,

goofed off with Lucy,

goofed off with Aunt Melba, too,

played in the sand with Grannie,

and SO many other fun things that I didn't get pictures of. Everyone was so cute with her! Some of her cousins were even accused of having crushes on her because they were always wanting to play with her. Now that we're home, I think she's a little lonely!

So thanks to everybody for being so fun and sweet! Can't wait to play again soon!

Yet another Beth loves: THE BEACH! We took a trip to Newport Beach and had a great time. I was nervous about how she would react to the sand, the waves, the water, the sun, etc. But she seemed to love it all! She would squeal and screech in the waves, sing as we walked on the beach, and stuff her mouth with sand whenever possible (aka Mom wasn't looking).

For a girl who detests her car seat, being stuck 45 minutes in a traffic jam was the best thing that ever happened on a road trip! She had SUCH a great time pretending to drive, playing with mom and dad, crawling over the seats, and even charming some of the other drivers stuck in the jam.

And, of course, she made it quite a bit more fun for mom and dad, too :)

Look at that delicious face!...and delicious hands and arms and legs and neck and bib and chair...I gave Beth some Cherries and she went to town rubbing them everywhere. Two days later, I was still finding pieces of them behind her ears and in her neck. But she had a great time...what else matters?!

(Although, her diaper that night was a sorry experience. I'll save that story for only the strong-stomached!)

Lately, Beth LOVES hanging out in sinks! She especially loves the bathroom sink with all the cool "toys" around it (toothbrushes, combs, soap, etc.). Will y'all think I'm a terrible mom if I tell you she probably spends about an hour each day hanging out in one sink or another?

Beth was introduced to monsoons a few weeks ago: as we came out of the grocery store, a huge downpour started. Just between the door of the store and our car, we were completely drenched. So I decided to take advantage. We spent the next 1/2 hour splashing in puddles and dancing in the rain. Beth was really cute--cooing and holding her hands out to catch the rain.